Curriculum
Wheaton offers a liberal arts education leading to a bachelor of arts degree in more than 36 majors and 50 minors. Students are permitted to work with faculty members to design self-declared majors, if they wish. Students choose from over 600 courses in subjects from physics to philosophy, political science to computer science, art history to theater, English to economics. The course selection is extended further through the college's cross-registration programs with Brown University and nine local colleges involved in SACHEM (Southeastern Association for Cooperation in Higher Education in Massachusetts). Wheaton also offers dual-degree programs, enabling its undergraduates to begin graduate-level study in studio art, communications, engineering, business, theology and optometry.
A unique part of the Wheaton curriculum requires students to complete "connections" which approach a variety of topics from the perspectives of different disciplines. During their Wheaton career, students must take either three linked courses or two sets of two-course connections. These courses are intended to encourage students to explore and think beyond their primary academic interests . For instance, the Connection entitled "Communication through Art and Mathematics" links Arts 298 (Graphic Design I) with Math 127 (Advertising Math). Although students may complete one of the numerous pre-designed connections, students are encouraged to consider finding and declaring their own.
Foundations courses focus on writing, quantitative analysis, foreign language study and non-Western perspectives. In their first semester at Wheaton, all freshmen take a First Year Seminar in which they explore contemporary issues and gain academic skills needed for college-level study. The Major concentration and elective courses are also central to the Wheaton Curriculum, which culminates in a senior capstone experience—a thesis, research project, seminar or creative project.
Read more about this topic: Wheaton College (Massachusetts)
Famous quotes containing the word curriculum:
“If we focus exclusively on teaching our children to read, write, spell, and count in their first years of life, we turn our homes into extensions of school and turn bringing up a child into an exercise in curriculum development. We should be parents first and teachers of academic skills second.”
—Neil Kurshan (20th century)